Portal:Oregon/Selected biography/16
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John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is a physician, member of the Democratic Party and former two term Governor of Oregon. He graduated from South Eugene High School in 1965, Dartmouth College in 1969, and then Oregon Health & Science University with a medical degree in 1973. Kitzhaber practiced medicine from 1973 to 1986 in Roseburg, Oregon as an Emergency Room Physician. Kitzhaber began his political career serving in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1979 to 1981. In 1980, he was elected to the Oregon State Senate, where he served three terms from 1981 to 1993, and as President of the Senate from 1985 until 1993. Kitzhaber was elected governor in November 1994, defeating Denny Smith, and becoming the 35th Governor of Oregon, and was re-elected in 1998. Much of Kitzhaber's tenure as governor was spent on the defensive with the Republican controlled legislature. Oregon's constitution prohibited Kitzhaber from seeking a third consecutive term in 2002. Kitzhaber married Sharon LaCroix in 1995. They have one son, Logan, who was born in October 1997. The couple sought a divorce in 2003, soon after the end of his second term as governor. Kitzhaber has been promoted as a strong potential candidate for the various offices since leaving office, but never run. In January 2003, Kitzhaber was named President of the Estes Park Institute, a Colorado-based education organization for community hospital and healthcare leaders. He serves as the Director for the Center for Evidence Based Policy at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon.
